Google has sent out a call to the world. For $1,500 and what it considers a compelling Tweet, you can be the first on your block to wear Google Glass — a computer you wear on your face that looks a bit like eyeglasses. This is the sort of innovation that Apple used to crank out when Steve Jobs is running it – but the innovation baton has been passed to Google.

Glass lets users take “pictures or record video without using their hands, send the images to friends or post them online, see walking directions, search the Web by voice command and view language translations,” according to the New York Times.

Glass accesses the Internet through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth linked to the wireless service on a user’s cellphone. And users activate Glass by speaking, touching the frame, or moving their heads, according to the Times.

In my opinion, Glass is the most inspiring new product to come out of Silicon Valley in a long time. In fact, the last one I can remember was released about three years ago – Apple’s iPad. But these days, Apple is in the news for its innovation problem rather than ground-breaking new products.

Apple’s innovation problem is highlighted by two news items during the week of February 11 — iPrefs, and a hiring freeze at Foxconn.

iPrefs — the clever moniker that hedge fund grandee, David Einhorn, has attached to his idea to get Apple to fork over a portion of its $137 billion cash pile — strongly hints at Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook’s inability to invest that cash in new products that can snag a dominant share of a big existing market.

iPrefs would create a class of preferred shares “which he says could produce $61 a share in additional benefits for investors,” according to DealBook. The name Mr. Einhorn picked is a sharp dig into Apple’s jugular — after all, its previous returns to investors came from a series of i-products — the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

But these three products all emerged from the application of four corporate capabilities:

• Product design. Under former CEO, Steve Jobs, Apple was able to design products that people loved to own and use.

• Supply chain management. Apple could take that design, give it to factories in Asia, and get the product delivered to customers with gross margins of 70 percent.

• Ecosystem creation. Apple could persuade suppliers of content – such as music, books, movies, and Apps — that they would be better off making that content available to users of its devices.

• Marketing. From Mr. Jobs’ black turtle-neck product demonstrations, to its snazzy TV ads, to its retail stores, Apple has been able to tickle peoples’ buying bones and turn most of the world into passionate advocates for its products.

The question for investors is whether Apple can apply these capabilities to a big market that Apple has not yet tapped.

According to BusinessWeek, Foxconn suspended recruitment at its factories in “Zhengzhou and Shenzhen, and postponed the construction of a new factory.”

Foxconn denied that the hiring freeze was due to the iPhone 5. Could the hiring freeze be due to Foxconn’s efforts to install automated robots so it doesn’t have to pay workers more and improve their working conditions? Or did more workers than expected return to its production lines after the Lunar New Year break?

These kinds of questions are not being asked about Google. In fact, I am very excited about the possible applications for Glass, and would like to win a chance to go to New York to pick up my copy for $1,500. If you want yours, you have until February 27.

Applicants must write a Google Plus or Twitter post with the hashtag #ifihadglass of no more than 50 words “telling what they would do with the glasses,” writes the Times.

Google’s judges will pick the winners who can attend an event to pick up the glasses in New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles where Google will accept their $1,500 and fork over the Glass, according to the Times.

If you want to apply, you might watch a YouTube video — How It Feels (Through Glass) — for inspiration. Among other things, it shows a ballerina recording and streaming live video during a performance; a tourist in Thailand getting Google to translate into Thai the word “delicious” while eating noodles on a boat; and a family video chatting from far away with a grandmother on her birthday.

Do you want to apply but you’re still stuck for ideas? Here are five candidates:

• Entrepreneur. I’m CEO of an enterprise software company attending an investment conference. #ifihadglass I’d scan the room and ask Google to show me which people are venture capitalists who’ve invested in companies in my space. Before introducing myself, I’d ask Google to show me their LinkedIn profiles.

• Professor. I’m a professor about to start the first meeting of a class of 40 executives. #ifihadglass I would look at each person in the room, ask Glass to take their photos, tell Google to display information about their companies and their LinkedIn profiles. Then I’d link all of it to my grading sheet.

• Surgeon. I’m a heart surgeon at a teaching hospital. #ifihadglass I’d tell Glass to take a video of a particularly difficult aorta surgery, annotate it with graphics and verbal commentary, and post the result on the students’ social media sites to review before the next class session.

• Secret Service. I’m a secret service agent protecting the president during his visit to Jerusalem’s Western Wall. #ifihadglass I would scan the crowd and ask Google to search the faces to find the people with records in global terrorist and criminal databases. I’d tell Google to display those records and I’d take action.

• Stranded in the woods. While cross-country skiing deep in the woods, I fall and break my leg. I try to ski back, but can’t. #ifihadglass I’d tell Glass to video my location, record a voice message for help, call 911, and send the video and voice message to my social networks.

I am sure you can do better. But can Apple do better than Google? Or has it lost its innovation mojo?

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